I had the unique opportunity to be a research intern this past summer, which has been an amazing 13 weeks. My research project was helping Dr. Marek Chodakiewicz and Dr. John Tierney edit their upcoming book on Geopolitics and Strategy. This meant that I worked with the professors and two other team members to read, organize, and write bits of this publication. It was a great experience that allowed me to learn deeply about a basic yet very crucial topic.
Next, I was fortunate to get permission to take graduate courses at the Institute for free. These courses intertwined with previous research and allowed me to learn and work directly with current and former practitioners in the intelligence, national security, and diplomatic fields. For example, I was able to continue research on the Middle East by taking IWP 717: Turkish Foreign Policy, Intelligence, and Security Services. I focused my research for this course on mapping the future of Turkish security policy through the lens of the Syrian refugee crisis. I was also able to take IWP 663: Cyber Statecraft, which was a topic I knew very little about. This course taught me the foundations of understanding cyber threats and policy, which is emerging as a critical national security threat.
The ability to learn and work with professionals was not limited to the classroom, as at least once a week we were able to take “field trips” to places like the Pentagon, the Department of Justice, and so on. These visits, coupled with networking events and seminars at the Institute itself, were a great way for me to pick the brains of even more professionals. To that point, perhaps my favorite part of this internship was the small jobs that allowed me to build relationships with others, and in turn, build my own skills. Side projects such as surprise intelligence briefs, digitizing records, and more all facilitated the team-like environment that I love to work in. All in all, the past 13 weeks have been good fun and hard work. I am leaving a much better candidate for my desired career and now have connections to help me get there.
Brandon
IWP National Security and International Affairs Research Intern, Summer 2024
From the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
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